Turning toward and exploring difficulties meditation.
I invite you to find a comfortable seated posture with the feet comfortably on the floor and relaxing your gaze,
Allow your eyes to stare forward comfortably or close them if that is comfortable for you.
Up until now,
Whenever the mind has been distracted by thoughts or feelings during a meditation,
The instruction has been to name it and gently but firmly bring the mind back to the breath and drop into the body.
Now we have a new possibility.
This time,
Instead of bringing the mind back from a thought or a feeling that creeps in,
Let's allow the thought or feeling to remain in the mind.
And then shifting the attention into the body,
We can become aware of any part of the body where there is a sensation or feeling that comes along with that thought or emotion.
A sensation may be obvious or quite subtle,
But see if you can tell whatever sensations arise when a difficulty comes into your mind.
And when you've identified a sensation,
Deliberately move the spotlight of your focus to that part of the body.
Perhaps we could imagine that we can breathe into this part of our body and then breathe out on the out-breath of that sensation.
And then we can move to the next part of the body and then breathe out on the out-breath.
Again,
Not trying to change any physical sensations,
But to allow the thought to remain in the mind and become aware of the body's reaction.
And if there are no difficulties that come to mind for you,
But you wanna explore this new approach and practice,
Then if you so choose,
You might try to bring to mind a difficulty that's going on in your life right at the moment or recently,
Something that you don't mind sitting with for a short while.
And as the thought comes in,
Allow it to rest in the mind,
Seeing it in a picture vividly as you breathe in and out and let the attention drop into the body,
Tuning into the physical sensations that the difficulty brought with it.
And now,
Allowing the thought to rest in the mind,
Seeing it vividly in a picture and allowing your attention in a spotlight to get closer,
To drop into the body,
Tuning in to where the physical sensations are.
Tune into any physical feeling that the difficulty brought with it and see if you're able to move closer to it,
To zoom in or tune in.
And as you identify that region of the body where the difficulty is,
You may begin breathing in to that part of the body on the in-breath and breathing out from it on the out-breath and hold it into awareness for a few breaths.
And for some of us,
It's helpful to remind ourselves that it's okay to allow ourselves to feel this difficulty,
To be able to cradle it and sit with it for a few moments.
See if it's possible to stay with the awareness of the bodily sensations and their relationship to the difficulty,
Breathing with them and letting them be just as they are.
And when you are ready,
Return your focus to the breath,
Moving in and out of the body and become aware of the feet on the ground and opening and focusing the eyes to the room where you are today in this moment.
Ding!
Ding!
